At the open on Thursday, the rupee rose 27 paise to 79.68 against the dollar, lagging its Asian counterparts and crude oil prices fell. In interbank foreign exchange trades, the domestic unit opened at 79.72 against the dollar before hitting 79.68 in initial trade, up 27 paise from its previous close. On Wednesday, the rupee was down 13 paise against the dollar at 79.95.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.05% at 109.78. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 1.06% to $88.93 a barrel. Anil Kumar Bhansali, head of finance at Finrex Treasury Advisors, said the dollar index fell to 109.78 as crude fell below $90 a barrel, Asian currencies edged higher and the rupee opened higher.
If the greenback follows the greenback, it could weaken further ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and a meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB), foreign exchange traders said. Among stocks, the 30-stock BSE Sensex rose 506.4 points, or 0.86%, to 59,535.31. Likewise, the broader NSE Nifty was up 148.90 points, or 0.84 per cent, at 17,773.30. Foreign institutional investors (FII) remained net buyers in the capital markets as they bought shares worth Rs 758.37 crore on Wednesday, according to preliminary data.